Apparatus for treating hydrocarbons



July 25, 1933. w. M. cRoss APPARATUS FOR TREATING HYDROCARBONS Filed Oct. 51, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 25, 1933 w. M. cRoss l1,919,320

APPARATUS FOR TREATING VHYDROCARBONS Filed Oct. 51, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 nvankoc Patented July 25, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT WALTER M; CROSS, oF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, ASSIGNQR, PY Mrs-SNE ASSIGNMENTS, To,Y

GAsoLnvE PRODUCTS COMPANY INC., or WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A CORPORA- TION OF DELAWARE ori-ICEy v APPARATUS FOR lTIIEATING HYDROCARBONS y Application :filed `October 31, 17923. Serial No. 672,020. p

`This invention'relates to an apparatus for treating hydro-carbon oils and refers particularly to the treatmentof oils in which relatively heavy oils are converted to produce lighter loils of low-boiling points.

The invention contemplates, broadly, the heating of the oil to a conversion temperature, the conversion or cracking ofthe oil under suchv` pressure that the oil is kept in a liquid phase and substantial vaporization during the conversion or cracking operation is prevented, the Subsequent release of pressure andthe consequent vaporization of the converted oil, the separation of the light and heavy ends, the re-boiling and further vaporization `of the heavy ends and the subsequent condensation and separation of the vapors.

The invention further contemplates the preliminaryheating of the charging stock and the use of the stock to assist in the Separation of the light and heavy ends before referred to.`

In the drawings there isillustrated one` embodiment of the invention which will be used in the description of the-apparatus as Well as the method, but it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to this particular embodiment as many changes in the details of construction' may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, or `without exceeding the Scope ofthe claims. i i

Figure l is a diagrammatic View of the illustrative apparatus; v` e Figure 2 is an enlarged detail sectional view of the dephlegmator tower and evaporator, and

Figure 3 is aplan View of the Same.

Referring to the drawings the oil to be treated is introduced intov the apparatus fromk a tank 1 which contains the charging stock. Itpasses fromr this tank through the pipe 2 to the suction side of a pump v3. From this pump the oil is forced througha pipe 4 into a coil 5 which is arranged within the dephlegmator tower 6 (see Fig. 2). the operation and function of which latter'will hereinafter be explained. From the coil 5' the oil passes ythrough a pipe 7 to the furnace 8 in which the oil is raised to a conversion 0r cracking temperature. The coil 5 may be isolated from the pipesfand 7 bygmeans of valves 9 and the oil by-passed around the coil through a pipe 10 which, likewise, is provided with avalve l1'. This latter valve may be closed to cause the oil to flow through the coil at which time the valves 9 are open.

or the latter valves may be closedand the former opened to permit the oil to be bypassed around the coil and directly from the pipe 4 to thepipe' 7 through Vwhich it lis led tothe furnace 8. It is also to be noted 'that if thefsupply tank 1 is-made cCm/lparatively small it will constitute a-miXing chamber or heat exchange forpreheating the charge-by the hot condensate from the deph-legmator,

and thus obtain additional thermal economies. v

Here lin theV furnace the oil` is passed through a series of` coils l2, being forcedv therethrough at a rate sulicient to permit the oil to be raised to a conversionforcracking temperature but to prevent any substantial crackingand deposit of carbon within the coils. The oil enters the coils at the topV of thefurnaceand leaves at the bottom'so that as it passes therethrough it is progressively subjected to highertemperatures, the A bottom of the furnacebeing, of course, nearer to the hre-box. y

vAs the oil passes from the coils l2 it enters the conversion chamber 13 through a pipe 14, in which it is held without substantial reduction of temperature under pressure, in liquid phase, for a suiicient length of time to insure its complete conversion or cracking. The oil 1s held in this conversion chamber in an enlarged body until it'assumes an equilibrium or A a` stable rearrangementv of the molecular bodies. This may be accomplished by either maintaining the oil stationaryrwithin the'chamber for a delinite period (which is Adetermined by experimentation) by keeping the valve l5 closed, or on the other hand ,the` valve l5 may be slightly cracked to permitthe oil to flow through the conversion chamber 13 at a relatively slowrate. i

This conversion of the oil in the chamber 13, by the molecular rearrangement yin a liquid phase without any substantial vapori- Zation except of the incondensable gases which create pressure in theV chamber, results in what I term a synthetic crude oil containing an .increased percentage of low-boiling point oils which may be easily extracted by subsequent distillation.

` This synthetic crude is forced through the pipe 16 and the valve-15, which has hereinbefore been referred to, into the evaporator 17 where the pressure is reduced to such an extent as to result in the vaporization of the Oil by the heat contained within the oil.

The dephlegmator tower 6 is associated with the evaporator 17 so that the vapor will pass from the latter to the former. The'particular association which is illustrated in the v drawing is such that the dephlegmator tower is mounted directly onr the evaporator and the vapors pass through lpurifiers from the latter to the former, but it is to be understood that this particular co-relation of the evaporator and dephlegmator Yis not essential as Y said space beingproduced by a partition 20.

it is only essential that they be so arranged that the vapor may pass from the yevaporator to the dephlegmator. f'

Referring, however, to the embodiment disclosed in the drawings, the dephlegmator tower includes an outer shell 18 which is provided at its lower end with a vapor space 19,

Communication is establishedy between the evaporator 17 and this vapor space 19 through a pipe 21 and purifiers or liquid removers 22. f These latter operate to permit the vapor to pass into the pipe 21 to separate the entrained liquid globules from the vapor,

this separated liquid being returned to the lower part of the evaporator 17 through pipes 23 where it is accumulated and from which'it automatically flows ofiI through a pipe 2li the valve 25 of which is automatically operated by float control 26* to a suitable receiver. Furthermore, the accumulated liquid may be permitted to flow off through the manually operable valve 27 which is provided with an operating handler28. y

Referring now to the dephlegmator tower which is more particularly illustrated in Figure 2, and which is similar ,in principle to that described and claimed in my co-pending application No. 674,678, filed November 14, 1923, thecontainer 29 is mounted within the outer shell 18. This container is spaced from the bottom and top of the tower and from the shell 18 which latter spacingrresults in 'the production of a passage'30 between the container and the shellv through which the rising vaporpasses. The coil 5 which has hereinbefore been referred to, is located within this space 30 and surrounds the container 29.

Likewise, a second coil 31 through which a cooling medium may be circulated surrounds this container which latter coil is, however,

not co-extensive with the coil 5 inasmuch as it terminates short of the upper end thereof. The vapor which rises between the shell 18 and the container 29 through thespace 30,

is caused to follow a convolute pathby means of a convolute baille 32- which course of the coils.

In order that the vapor may pass from the vapor-space 19 to the upper end of thetower follows the Va plurality of pipes 33 extend through the i.

similar to those used in the evaporator.

These purifiers are provided with liquid re` turn pipes 37 which extend into and acent to the lower end of the container '29 in which latter the liquid separated from the outgoing vapor is deposited until itv reaches a prede# tei-mined height at which time it overflows through a pipe 38 to the lower end of the tower and accumulates above the vapor space 19 on the partition 20. It will be noted that this accumulationis around the pipes 33so that, as the vapors pass up'through the latter, the heat from the vapors is distributed throughout the accumulated liquid. Y

As the vapors which pass from the vapor space 19 through the pipes 33 rise in a convolute path around the. container29 and the cooling coils, the higher boiling point vapors are condensed outand fall back into the lower end of the tower. The lower boiling point vapors passA vupwardly and Iafter having passed to the purifiers 3G escape through the pipe 35, the separated entrained liquid being returned to the container 29 from whence it is subsequently conveyed through the pipe 38 and mixed with the condensate which accumula-tes in the lower end lof the tower. The liquid which accumulates in the container 29 preliminarily receives heatby the rising vapors and when it is deposited in the lower end of the towerit together with the accumulated condensate, is

subjected to a re-heating and ite-boiling which results in a further vaporization of the oil. This accumulation at the bottom of the tower is automatically drawn oli' through a pipe 39 when it reaches a ypredetermined height and may be returned to the charging stock tank. It, however, may be by-passed around this charging stock tank and forced directly to the heating coils by closing the valve L40 and opening the valve. 42, The manipulation of thevalves 40 and 42 determines whether or not the oil passing through the pipe 39 enters the charging stock tank or` ist is by-passed around the same to the pipe 41 i and enters the furnace coils by Way of inlet line 7. The pump 42 serves to overcome the pressure diferential existingin pipes 39 and 7. That is to say, it picks up the low pressure oil in pipe 39 and forces it into the high pressure zone obtaining in pipe 7.

The vapors passing from the upper end of the dephlegmator tower through the pipe are conveyed to a cooler 43 where the vapors of a relatively high boiling point are condensed out. This condensate, together with the uncondensed vapor passes to a gas separator 44 from which the condensate flows to a storage tank 45, its flow being controlled by an automatically operable valve 46 which permits an out-flow when a predetermined level is reached in the separator 44. rIvhe uncondensed vapors pass from this separator through a pipe 47 to a compressor 48, the suction side of which compressor is also connected, through a pipe 49, to the condensate storage tank 45. The pipe 47 is provided with a valve 50 and the pipe 49 with a valve 51 for a purpose which Will later appear.

The vapor is forced by the compressor 48 through a condenser 52 and thence into a separator 53 which, because of its relation to the compressor, operates, preferably under a pressure of from 5 to 1() atmospheres. The lower end of this separator is connected to the storage tank 45 by a valved pipe 54, and the upper end by a valved pipe 55 to a fuel gas collector 56.

The pipe connection 49 with the valve 51 therein makes it possible by closing the valve 50 and opening the valve51 to draw the gas from the storage tank 45 and pass it through the compressor tothe condensing elements I claim: v

, 1. An apparatus for treating hydrocarbon oils, which includes a heating coil adapt-ed to receive oil from a supply tank, a cracking chamber, an evaporator and a dephlegmator successively connected, a conduit connecting the supply tank with the heating coil, a portion of which conduit is located Within the dephlegmator, means for forcing the oil from the supply tank through the conduit to the heating coil, means for returning the` condensate collected in thedephlegmator to the heating coil, and a separate by-pass connection around the portion of the conduit in the dephlegmator whereby the oil may be i charged Without preheating` directly to the heating coil.

2. An apparatus for treating hydrocarbon oils, which includes a heating coil adapted toureceive oil from a supply tank, a cracking chamber, an evaporator and dephlegmator successively connected, a conduit connecting the supply tank with the heating coil, a portion of which is located Within the dephlegmator, means for forcing the oil from the supply tank through the conduit to the heating coil, a separate by-pass connection around the portion vof the conduit in the, dephlegmator whereby the oil may be bypassed Without preheating, and means for removing the condensate from the dephleg- Amator and passing it into the said conduit to the heatingcoil.

3. An apparatus for treating hydrocarbon oils comprising a cracking unit in which oil may be crackedunder heat and pressure, an evaporator and a dephlegmator successively connected, a supply tank, a conduit connecting the supply tank with the cracking unit, a portion of which conduit forms a coil within the dephlegmator, means for forcing the oil from the supply tank through the dephleg-A mator coil, means for returning the heated condensate collected in the dephlegmator directly to the cracking unit and a by-pass connection around the portion of the conduit in the dephlegmator whereby oil may be bypassed without lpreheating to the cracking unit.

4. An apparatus for treating hydrocarbon oils which includes a heating coil adapted toreceive oil from a supplytank, a cracking chamber, an evaporator and a dephlegmator successively connected, a -conduit connecting the supply tank with theheating coils, av portion of which conduit is located within the dephlegmator, means for forcing the oil from the supply tank through the conduit tothe heating coils, means for automatically returning the condensate collected in the dephlegmator to the supply tank and means positioned in the bottom of the dephlegmator toeifect aA heat exchange between streams of vapors directed thereto from the evaporator and the condensate separated from the vapors in `the dephlegmator and accumulated as a body therein.

Y 5. Anapparatus for treating hydrocarbon oils which includes ya heating coil adapted tov receive oil from asupply tank, a cracking chamber, an evaporator and a dephlegmator successively connected, a conduit convnecting the supply tank with the heating coils, a portion of which conduit is locatedl f Withinthe dephlegmator, means for forcing the oil from the supply tank through the conduit to the heating coils, means for automatically returning the condensate collected .in the dephlegmator to the supply tank and v a separate by-pass connection around the por.-v tion of thevconduit inthe dephlegmator whereby the oil may be charged without preheating directlyto'the heating coil.

WALTER M. oRoss. 

